Joe Johnston Talks “Captain America”

Flagwear never goes out of style. 

I tend to think of Joe Johnston as a competent, yet boring director. He’ll get a project done on time, probably within the budget, and with a minimum of offscreen drama, but I don’t ever feel like, “Wow, Joe Johnston always brings a distinct visual style or tone to his movies,” or “Joe Johnston gets the max out of his performers.”

Which does not–I hesitate to say does not bode well for “Captain America”; more like “bodes average.” But Johnston surely is a lot more enthusiastic than I am, as  he indicates in this interview with the LA Times.

Johnston says, “He’s a guy that wants to serve his country but he’s not a flag-waver. We’re reinterpretating sort of what the comic book version of Steve Rogers was.”

Of course Captain America was conceived during a very different type of war, one with a very obvious, visible enemy, during a time when patriotism was a purer, less cynical stance, and government actions were, due to the particular nature of that war.

“He wants to serve his country, but he’s not this sort of jingoistic American flag-waver,” Johnston said. “He’s just a good person. We make a point of that in the script: Don’t change who you are once you go from Steve Rogers to this super-soldier, you have to stay who you are inside, that’s really what’s important more than your strength and everything. It’ll be interesting and fun to put a different spin on the character and one that the fans are really going to appreciate.”

So, the question is whether Captain America fans will look at this “new spin,” and say, “That’s not the real Captain America!” or if the response is, “Good job, the classic Captain America is a little bit dated and needed an attitude adjustment for the 21st century.” The former group won’t have much of a leg to stand on–as the LA Times notes, artists and writers have adjusted Captain America to fit the times before. Johnston says it’s all about opening up the character beyond one-dimensional patriotism:

“…it’s also the idea that this is not about America so much as it is about the spirit of doing the right thing. It’s an international cast and an international story. It’s about what makes America great and what make the rest of the world great too.”

In the end, of course, this will just be a conversation for the fanboys; most people won’t really notice any kind of change as long as it’s a good movie.

“Captain America” stars Chris Evans as the title character. The cast also includes Hayley Atwell, Hugo Weaving, Stanley Tucci, Dominic Cooper, Sebastian Stan, Toby Jones, and Neal McDonough. It opens July 22, 2011.

“Captain America”